Electrochemical reduction of some compounds of two-coordinate phosphorus and arsenic in an aprotic medium

The electrochemical reduction of a series of compounds of two-coordinate phosphorus and arsenic with linear structure was investigated for the first time. The main polarographic characteristics indicate irreversibility of the electrode process and its complication by kinetic limitations. The products of controlled-potential electrolysis were analyzed, and schemes are presented for the electrochemical reduction, which consists in hydrogenation with cleavage of the P=E bond of most of the studied compounds (1,2, and4) and in cleavage of the C_Ar-P bond in sterically hindered compound3. The electrolysis products underwent further transformation in the presence of oxygen and moisture of air.DeceasedA. E. Arbuzov Institute of Organic and Physical Chemistry, Kazan' Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 420083 Kazan'. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1754–1760, August, 1992.